Coffins sold separately: action figures reveal UK’s ongoing abuse of child soldiers
The British Army still uses child soldiers in terrible wartime positions. Veterans for Peace UK points this out in a video that deserves a couple of minutes of your time. Enter Action Man: Battlefield Casualties.
As an organisation of ex-service men and women hardened in battles as far back as WWII, Veterans for Peace does not shy away from dark humor. Mimicking old TV ads captured on VHS tapes between children’s programming, veteran Action Man action figures are presented as everything a kid needs to fantasize about the glories of war.
Battlefield Casualties
PTSD Action Man features an amputated arm, suicidal thoughts and substance abuse. Paralysed Action Man has a wheelchair, colostomy bag and gets his benefits cancelled by the hyenas at Atos Healthcare. Dead Action man is blown to pieces and ready to be sent home in a bag. Coffins are sold separately.
This gets the point across well if the mission is to educate young people on the true nature of military service and war.
Recruiting the young
The Battlefield Casualties video ads feature boys and girls under the age of ten. They are just a decade away from being able to join the child soldiers in the British Armed forces. According to Veterans for Peace UK, the UK is one of only nineteen countries that still recruits 16 and 17 year olds into armed forces. Others include North Korea and Iran.
The Army channels the youngest and poorest of these soldiers into front-line combat roles. They are twice as likely as adult recruits to be killed in a war. The suicide rates for 16-20 year old males in the armed forces has been 82% higher than for civilians of the same age.
This is a crock of shit, 16 and 17 year olds don’t serve in combat roles. For that matter 16 and 17 year olds in the armed forces aren’t children either they are young adults.
If 16 and 17 are young adults how come they can’t buy a beer? And even if they don’t fight, then there are plenty who died and fought at 18. Is it that much difference?
Don’t matter how old they are. What’s so fucked up is that dolls like that glamorize war to kids. Nothing glamours or cool about slaughtering each other.